ATHABASCA — It was a mild and sunny day Friday, Nov, 27 in 2020 and life was fine for one Athabasca man, until a chance encounter on a local road.
Gordon “Gordie” Hurrie was on his lunch break and heading up to the Centennial Park on the north side of the Athabasca River when a black truck came speeding around the bend, drifting in the soft snow, heading right toward his car. He veered to the right and avoided a head-on collision but the truck still caused a lot of damage before it sped off.
“It totalled my little car and I was pretty sore for a couple of weeks; my ribs were pretty banged up,” Hurrie said in an Aug. 6 interview.
And that is all he got out of the whole ordeal because the case is now cold after RCMP was unable to locate the vehicle and driver, said Athabasca RCMP Const. Jay Tessier.
“We followed up with rumours that had been circulating, but it was proved false when comparing the pieces of car left behind at the scene and the vehicles owned by the rumoured involved party,” said Tessier, the detachment media contact, reading from the report by investigating officer Const. Jaret Griffin.
For Hurrie, the accident not only took away his car, but it took away his favourite spot.
“I sold the old car for junk and bought myself another little truck and I don't go up to the welcome sign anymore,” he said. “I've been doing that since I started working ... and on the nice days, I’d go up there and eat lunch and have my quiet time. So, now I go to the riverfront and deal with the drug addicts. I actually had to call the ambulance (recently).”
Hurrie noticed a man who appeared to be in distress and a “crack pipe by his hand” so he called 911.
And while he’s still upset there’s been no resolution to the accident, life continues and he’s had other things to deal with besides finding the suspect whose name came up several times right after the accident.
“I felt it was very odd that name came up immediately from some of the school kids," said Hurrie. “And then a couple of people at work that have younger teenagers that were in school and the name come up. But nothing we could prove.”
Tessier said although the investigation is done, RCMP will still follow up any new leads.
“The file is closed, since all investigative leads have come up empty and rumours of who was driving have been proven false,” said Tessier. “Of course, I always recommend that if any information is learned about an old file, to call the non-emergency line. It is very easy to reopen files to investigate.”
If you have any information about the accident, you can call RCMP at 780-675-5122.
